The ''Centaure'' was the name ship of the ''Centaure'' class of

74-gun The "seventy-four" was a type of two- decked sailing ship of the line, which nominally carried 74 guns. It was developed by the French navy in the 1740s, replacing earlier classes of 60- and 62-gun ships, as a larger complement to the recently-de ...

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

of the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

. She was surrendered to the Anglo-Spanish forces at Toulon on 29 August 1793. When Toulon was evacuated by the Allies, the British burnt this ship (among others) on 18 December 1793. The remains were refloated in 1805 and taken to pieces in the following year.

References

*Demerliac, Cmdt. Alain, ''Nomenclature des navires français de 1774 a 1792''. Editions ANCRE, Nice. *Winfield, Rif and Roberts, Stephen (2015) ''French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786-1861: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates.'' Seaforth Publishing. . Ships of the line of the French Navy Centaure-class ships of the line 1782 ships Ships built in France Maritime incidents in 1793 {{France-line-ship-stub